Rug frame



Ap ril 29, 1958 T. EJBATEY RUG FRAME Filed March 24, 1955 IN V EN TOR.

{BY 734m 4 8422 ATTOR'NEY This invention relates to a fabric supporting frame for use particularly in supporting and stretching a piece of coarse woven material of the class commonly employed in making hooked rugs.

In hooked rug frames heretofore used to hold a sec tion of base fabric in a fimly stretched position suitable for hooking operations, various mechanical engaging and tightening means have been proposed involving the use of cumbersome locking bars and various types of piercing elements, all of which have been objectionable for one reason or another and particularly lacking in convenience in changing the work area of the fabric from time to time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rug hooking frame of the class indicated and to devise a means for quickly and conveniently engaging any desired section of a base fabric and subjecting it to tensioning forces which may be exerted outwardly away from each of four sides of any given fabric area by means of one simple rotary adjustment. Another object is to devise a combination hooking frame and fabric engaging means which is so arranged that the apparatus may be instantly engaged and instantly released at will regardless of the section of fabric which is being dealt with.

These and other objects and novel features will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating the rug hooking frame of the invention and particularly showing a fragment of hooked rug base material placed on the frame in readimess to be stretched;

Fig. 2 is a view taken approximately on the line 2.-2 of Fig. 1 illustrating portions of the device in elevation and other portions thereof in cross-section; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the fabric stretched.

In accordance with the invention, 1 have found that I may accomplish the objectives above outlined by means of a special fabric stretching mechanism. This mechanism is based on the novel concept of using a plurality of card clothing members in cooperating relationship with respect to one another.

' In one preferred embodiment of the invention, I have devised means for supporting four of the card clothing members in a position such that they define a rectangularly shaped fabric supporting enclosure and so that there may be produced rotative movement of two of the card clothing members with respect to the remaining two card clothing members. In this arrangement, the wire points of the card clothing members are bent at a slight angle and may be employed to lightly support and cling to a given piece of fabric without impairing its texture and, yet, the holding effect of the points provides for a desirable stretching of the fabric being releasably held at all times.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, numeral 2 indil i r t atent it Patented Apr. 29, 11958 cates a base member of any convenient form, such as a rectangular piece of wood, metal, plastic material or the like. Vertically disposed on this base 2 are corner posts l, 6, h and lit. Between the corner posts 4 and 8 is supported a stationary card clothing carrier bar 12. This carrier bar 12 includes reduced ends 12a and 1% through which are received screws 12 and. 12." threaded into posts dand 3. On bar 12 is formed a roll segment having a curved surface to which is secured a fabric engaging element consisting of a card clothing member lid. The extremities of the wire points of the card clothing member are bent to extend outwardly in an angularly directed manner, as suggested in Figs. 2 and 3.

Similarly located between the posts 8 and 10 is fixed a second stationary card clothing carrier bar lid having reduced ends 16a and 16b of which end 16a is secured by a screw 16c, as shown. The end 16b is received on a shaft hereinafter described in detail. A card clothing member it; is arranged in substantially the same angularly disposed manner as that described with respect to the card clothing 14 of the bar 12 but with the wire points bent and projecting in a direction substantially at right angles to the direction in which the points of member M extend.

With these two stationary card clothing members 14- and 18, i further provide two rotatable card clothing members Zil and 22, each of which has bent wire points as shown. The card clothing member 22 is of substantially the same size as the card clothing members M and 13 and is supported on a carrier bar 24 which is fixed to the shaft 26, the outer end of which presents a handle portion 28. The shaft member has its opposite end pivotally mounted in the post 6 in a suitable bearing provided therein and also extends through and is free to turn in the post lit and the carrier bar 16, as noted above, to support the latter member as an integral part of the two posts and intervening carrier bar 24.

Card clothing member 22 is normally arranged in a position such that its bent wire points are angled inwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, and extend in approximately the same direction as the wire points of card clothing member M, although the bent outer ends of these points of member 22 are in opposed relation, as shown. Therefore, it will be apparent that, by rotating the handle .28

D and shaft 26 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2,

the points of card clothing member 22 may be swung into a position such as that shown in Fig. 3.

Attached to the shaft 226 at one end thereof is a ratchet member l -ti having secured at one extremity a spring 42 anchored at its opposite end to a lever 44 pivoted on post 6. A pawl 46 is pivotally mounted on post 6 in a position to engage the ratchet, as shown in Fig. 3. This mechanism locks both rotatable members 20 and 22 in any desired position.

Fixed on shaft 26 between the post 6 and an adjacent end of the carrier bar 2 is a beveled gear 358* (Fig. 1), which is in mesh with a beveled gear 32 fast on a shaft This shaft 34% carries the second rotatable card clothing bar above referred to and indicated in the drawings by the numeral 36. On this card clothing bar 35 is the card clothing member 2ft normally occurring in the position shown in Fig. 1 and also having bent wire points. The shaft 254 is rotatable in suitable hearings in the posts 4 and a and may be rotated by the beveled gears and 32 into a position such as that suggested in Pig. 3 in which the points of this member project outwardly in oppositely directed manner from the points of the card member 18.

it is pointed out that, in the preferred embodiment shown, each of the card clothing members represents seesaw.

arcuate sections of the same radius and the axis of each of these arcuate sections lies in substantially the same horizontal plane. As a result of this, a fabric F of the type employed in hooking a rug may be supported on the several card clothing members and caused to assume a substantially level or horizontal position, regardless of the position into which either of the rotatable card clothing members 2d and 22 may be moved.

In using the rug hooking frame, the card clothing members 28 and 22 are positioned as shown in l and the rug fabric F is placed over the frame in a position such that a desired section in which hooking is to be performed occurs within the area defined by the four card clothing members. In this position, it is intended that the points of each member will lightly engage with cling to the underside of the fabric.

Thereafter, the handle 28 is turned in a clockwise di-- rection, as shown in Fig. 2, and the card members 23 and 22 are rotated about two different axes occurring at right angles to one another. As this takes place, the points of the card members 2t} and 22 engage more deeply in the fabric F. Simultaneously, tensioning forces are exerted on the fabric in four opposite directions and the fabric becomes tightly stretched in a position such as that shown in Fig. 3. At the same time, the ratchet and pawl mechanism operates to successively hold the shaft 26 in each new position of advancement in its clockwise rotation until a desired degree of stretching has been accomplished in the fabric F.

The hooking operation is then carried out in the stretched area, and, when this portion of the work is completed, the fabric F is instantly released by disengaging the ratchet and pawl mechanism and rotating the shaft 26 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 2 and 3. An adjacent section of the rug fabric may then be posiitoned and the operation repeated in the man ner described.

It Will be evident that, by the arrangement described, any desired section of a rug fabric may be instantly posi" tioned and stretchedinto a properly spread out position to facilitate the hooking operation, and this desirable positioning of the fabric is achieved in such a way that access may be had to the stretched section from any one of four sides and from either the top or the bottom there-- of. It will also be appreciated that by merely releasing the ratchet mechanism and turning the handle, the rug section can be instantly released and at no time is any injury caused to the fabric texture. This is especially due to the fact that the multiplicity of wire points distribute the holding forces exerted on the fabric over a substantially large area and none of the constituent fibers are overstressed.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is intended that the frame may be used for various purposes and various other means may be employed for supporting a plurality of card clothing morn-- bers and moving them apart from one another to exert tensioning forces. Similarly, the means for producing rotative movement of card clothing members may be varied in different ways and the locking means described may take other forms, all within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A rug hooking device comprising a rectangular frame, vertically disposed corner posts supporting said frame, four supporting bars extending between the upper ends of the posts and attached thereto to define a rectangular shaped rug supporting enclosure, two of said bars being stationary and having card clothing members secured at their upper sides, said card clothing members comprising elongated bars arcuate in cross section and having fine wires fixed in their outer surface, the Wires being bent slightly to provide hooking elements engageable by a rug fabric, the other two bars being mounted for slight rotary movement on the posts and having card clothing members similar to those on the said first named bars, means for rotating the said last named bars in unison, the said rotation causing a tensioning of a rug as the rug is caused to adhere to and be gripped by the wires on the said bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 86,254 Simpkins Jan. 26, 1869 431,074 Peterson July 1, 1890 555,278 Arbogast et a1 Feb. 25, 1896 1,285,373 Prestwich et al Nov. 19, 1918 1,741,541 Schramm Dec. 31, 1929 2,160,337 McKee May 30, 1939 2,188,397 VVaterhouse Ian. 30, 1940 2,223,462 Rosenthal Dec. 3, 1940 2,568,731 Hansen et a1. Sept. 25, 1951 

